Applied Capital LLC Sells 545 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Applied Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 43.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 713 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 545 shares during the period. Applied Capital LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after purchasing an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock worth $70,720,874,000 after purchasing an additional 3,103,212 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft during the fourth quarter worth about $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock worth $35,316,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Judson Althoff sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $458.18, for a total value of $7,330,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 98,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,906,221.80. This represents a 14.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 134,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $61,208,127.76. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,743 shares of company stock valued at $27,520,933 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSFT has been the subject of several research reports. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $475.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Microsoft from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8%

MSFT stock traded down $9.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $524.03. 13,043,612 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,325,803. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Microsoft Corporation has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $555.45. The company has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's fifty day moving average is $488.46 and its 200-day moving average is $434.13.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.35 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $76.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 36.15% and a return on equity of 33.49%. The firm's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is 24.34%.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.